VALENTINE MASSACRES FIJI
WINGER Valentine Holmes became the first player to score six tries in a Test as defending champions Australia crushed Fiji 54-6 in Brisbane to reach their 14th straight Rugby League World Cup final.
Holmes had been the first player to score five tries in a Test last weekend in Australia’s 46-0 victory over Samoa in the quarter-finals.
He went one better yesterday to take his total for the tournament to 12 tries, breaking the record for a single Rugby League World Cup of 10 by former Kangaroos winger Wendell Sailor in 2000.
Fellow winger Dane Gagai and full back Billy Slater added two tries apiece as Australia brushed aside Fiji by 10 tries to one.
Slater’s double took his tally in World Cups to 16, a record for one player. Playmaker captain Cameron Smith, who was man of the match, said: ‘We’ve just got to throw the ball to Valentine.
‘He’s scoring left, right and centre. We’re playing some great football at the moment.’
In the final in Brisbane next Saturday the Kangaroos will face the winners of the second semi- final between England and Tonga which was kicking off in Auckland at 5am today.